In many work environments there arises a repeated need for a convenient support unit to support work in process or to provide a raised work surface for workers. Such support needs are frequently felt in the construction and industrial arts. However, substantial needs arise for the amateur worker or homemaker also.
While the structure of such support units varies substantially, all are intended to provide the basic function of a raised support surface capable of bearing a load. Perhaps the simplest and most common of such work supports is found in the popular "sawhorse" which provides a flexible and easy to use support system in which a horizontal member is provided with four supporting legs arranged in outwardly extending pairs at each end of the support member. In many cases for improved stability, the support leg pairs at each end are inclined and tend to diverge as they extend downward from the support member. In many instances, such sawhorses provide a convenient surface which may be used to support a workpiece in progress while operations such as sawing and drilling and the like may be carried forward. In other work environments, however, such sawhorses or similar supports are used in combination and arranged in a spaced apart relationship together with one or more lateral elements such as planks or scaffolding to provide a raised work surface for craftsman such as plasterers, carpenters, painters or the like.
Regardless of their use, such support members are often found to be difficult to store and transport and are often clumsy to handle and carry. Accordingly, there has arisen a need in the art for such support units which are collapsible to facilitate transportation and storage. While practitioners in the art have been led by this need to provide various collapsible support members in the past, such supports have often been subject to several limitations. Perhaps the most serious limitation has arisen in the tendency of the collapsing mechanism to reduce the load strength capability of the support member. In addition, such collapsible mechanisms are often found to be complex and, in many instances, expensive and difficult to manufacture.
There remains, therefore, a need in the art for a convenient, easily operated collapsible support which retains its load bearing strength despite its collapsible feature.